July 2004

Apparently, "almost half" of the fluorescent light bulbs used in the Japanese module of the International Space Station have begun burning out far earlier than expected. An entire section of the station thus might soon be left in darkness.

[Image: Kibo, the Japanese module of the International Space Station, soon to be without internal light].

Although an impending delivery of new bulbs will undoubtedly bring light back to the failing module, the implication that astronauts aboard something like the International Space Station – or some special, trans-galaxial touring edition, launched twenty-five years from now – might be faced with total darkness, a darkness from which they cannot be rescued, is mind-boggling. At the very least it would make a great film: ten minutes into what you think is a science fiction adventure story, all the lights on the ship go out. There is no way to replace the bulbs. The next hour and a half you listen – after all, you can't watch – as a group of orbiting athletes and scientists slowly comes to grips with their situation. They are drifting out past the rings of Saturn inside a strange constellation of unlit rooms – and they will never have light in the station again.Five years from now one of them will still be alive, half-insane, speaking into a dead transmitter. The price of seeing stars is darkness, he whispers to himself over and over again, as his failing eyes gaze out upon nebulas and planets he'll never reach.

Super provocative idea. It helps me see a similarity I hadn't appreciated: silent film predated and inspired film with sound, and radio shows predated and inspired television (introducing a visual component).

Why am I thinking of John Carpenter's cult classic Dark Star? It was played as a dark comedy. If I remember they ran out of toilet paper, the captain was dead and preserved in liquid nitrogen and no one wanted to feed the alien.

visually: the movie is increasingly dark as essential services in the 'dark' parts of the ship require work, and only a limited number of torches are available. Ambient starlight/sunlight makes for a minimal amount on screen most of the time, but with an increasingly claustrophobic feel to it...

climax: slingshot around (say) jupiter... the last original light fails just before the sun also dissapears from view...

cameo reference: next line would be "my god, it's full of stars" ;)

...mostly though, this sounds awesome, and with the right characters and buildup... damn! Can I throw this idea around to some ideas people I know? :)

why does every interesting plot that could be explored more and fully developped as a real cunematographic experience, has to turn into a violent/action movie?? this is typical hollywoodian thinking...and its starting to bore the hell out of sane person with a little more imagination than a 1yr old monkey!

richard, i would love to hear what those interesting plot ideas are and how they could be developed w/o turning into a violent action movie. i'm very serious. i'd love to have that discussion with you and hear what you think about it. if you're interested shoot me an email.

About BLDGBLOG

BLDGBLOG ("building blog") is written by Geoff Manaugh. The opinions expressed here are my own; they do not reflect the views of my friends, editors, employers, publishers, or colleagues, with whom this blog is not affiliated.